[LINK] Google Kids: Why doesn't this exist?

[Kim Holburn]

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/06/12/148208/Why-Doesnt-Google-Kids-Exist
http://www.slate.com/id/2296647/

> Our story begins with coloring pages. My sons, who wake with the dawn, were gathered around the computer one morning when I had the  bright idea to Google "Star Wars printouts." The first two results were borderline spam, with lots of pop-up windows and distracting ads. It took plenty of digging around to find a decent image of Yoda. The ninth result was especially odd: "Color lego star wars printouts. Do cinemax actors really have sex." Luckily, the boys didn't catch on, but I could see that being awkward one day.
> 
> My older son, who is 6, also likes to watch amateur Star Wars Lego movies, such as the minor comic masterpiece "An Average Death Star Day." But I don't leave him alone on YouTube, because I never know if some strange-ass video will appear in the "Related Videos" section. You would not believe some of the things people do with Legos. And, yes, I know that a 6-year-old should not be left unattended with a computer, but it would be nice, on occasion, to just let him roam around on YouTube and watch stuff that he's curious about while I "do the dishes" by having a beer in the kitchen.
> 
> I really liked the now defunct site, TotLol, which handpicked videos on YouTube that were appropriate for children and also categorized them by genre—you could get your fill of Schoolhouse Rock, Thomas the Tank Engine, and non-gory animal videos. The site's developer started to sell subscriptions but he ran afoul of YouTube's new Terms of Service and shut the whole thing down. Apparently, you are not allowed to make money off a site that only embeds videos and doesn't offer other content.
> 
> These two examples lead to my modest proposal: Google should create Google Kids, a search engine that filters the Web for children. Think back to when you were a kid and your parents dropped you off at the library. In the children's section, the only "inappropriate" stuff to be found was Judy Blume's Forever, which someone's older sister had usually already checked out anyway. Similarly, Google Kids would be a sort of children's section of the Web, focused on providing high-quality results based on age.


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request